


pulling the plug

by splashstar



Series: the first sounds of the future [2]
Category: Vocaloid
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Self-Worth Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:41:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26183599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/splashstar/pseuds/splashstar
Summary: At the very least, they’d bothered to tell him when it was over.--kaito finds piko sitting outside the train station.
Relationships: Kaito & Utatane Piko
Series: the first sounds of the future [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1900378
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	pulling the plug

**Author's Note:**

> in case you didn't read my last fic, sony discontinued piko mid-august and i got rly bummed out and realized i hadn't properly written piko yet, so here's a oneshot in honor of that
> 
> @ sony when we said we wanted an update this wasn't what we meant
> 
> [here's the unintentional prelude to this fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26299153)

It seemed unavoidable that Utatane Piko would not be updated by the time his tenth anniversary came around. The very Vocaloid whom that name belonged to knew in the back of his mind for a long time that his days were numbered, but whether it started five years ago or three-fourths of a year ago or the minute he was brought into existence was something he’d lost track of by now--but even when that day came, not even ten years in, he couldn’t help but still be disheartened despite already having lost hope. At the very least, they’d bothered to tell him when it was over.

Some tenth anniversary this was going to be.

That evening, he’d found himself sitting with his knees to his chest outside Akasaka Station, wondering if he should just catch a train somewhere random and start his life over like he’d seen others like him do before. It was either _that,_ or accept the inevitable ride of shame up to Ueno where Miki and Kiyoteru and all the others at AH-Software were so he could tell them what happened--given they _didn’t_ already hear about it by now, but he supposed at least Miki would have already come down to check on him if they had.

...No. Maybe he shouldn’t. Crashing the AHS building uninvited would probably just make him a nuisance more than anything.

A heavy sigh left his lips as he buried his face into his knees, trying not to make a sound as tears threatened to fall from his eyes. He thought he’d already been prepared, but he didn’t anticipate being this overwhelmed on the first night. Why couldn’t things have just gone better for him? Why was it that he was out here, lost in a place he should have been intimately familiar with by this point? What hope did he have left for his future?

"Piko-kun? Is that you?"

Piko rubbed an arm against his eyes and raised his head toward the vaguely familiar voice. There in front of him was a familiar blue-haired Vocaloid with an unmistakable scarf hanging from his neck, a look of concern clear on his face. "Kaito-san? Wh-what are you doing all the way out here...?"

“I was meeting with a producer. But...are you okay?” Kaito asked, taking the space next to him. “What's going on?”

Piko sniffled. "Have you...not heard yet?"

"About what?"

"I never got updated, and it's almost been ten years. They’re done with me."

“...Oh,” Kaito exhaled quietly, his eyes downcast and his expression serious. “I'm sorry, Piko-kun. I didn't know.” He glanced almost hesitantly back at him. “You're not going to try to go back?”

The silver-haired boy shook his head softly. “N...no,” he said quietly. “I don't want to be another failure to them if they decide to bring me back at all.”

Kaito sighed through his nose as he heard those words, and his heart dropped. He knew that feeling well, and it would have ruined him if he’d been forced to work through it alone. The least he could do was try to get some of that weight off Piko’s chest. “Piko-kun...you're _not_ a failure,” he insisted earnestly, placing a hand on his shoulder and catching the distress in his eyes as they exchanged gazes. “Nothing that happened to you was your fault. The circumstances you were put out under just weren't in your favor. That's all. It happens.”

“But...what am I going to do now?” Piko murmured, slight despair lacing his words as he withdrew back into himself. “I don't really know anyone with enough power to help me, and I feel like I’ll just be a burden to AHS...”

“...I might have an idea,” Kaito began. “I have some friends you could meet. They’re all from England, but they have...something like a support group you could join them in.”

“I don't _know_ any English, though,” Piko replied, looking up at the pair of cobalt eyes next to him. “I can barely say basic greetings.”

Kaito nodded patiently. "I know. But they can teach you. There's three of them, actually, so they could all help you out."

"But...you and everyone else at Crypton knows Japanese and English, right? Why can't you guys teach me?"

“I think it'd be better if they did it. I assume you're going to be communicating with them more from now on, anyway.” Kaito smiled fondly as older memories made their way back to the front of his mind. “They’ve learned some Japanese before, too, since Mei-chan and I also had a hard time talking to them at first, so I'm sure you'll be okay. And don't worry, we can introduce you if you don't think you can do it yourself.”

Piko swallowed unconsciously, as if he were trying to conceal whatever vague, soul-stirred emotion it was that he felt right now. “...That's...really nice of you.” He bowed his head gratefully. “Thank you so much, Kaito-san.”

Kaito’s smile was warm, as if he were the sun itself. “No problem.” He looked up at the sky, its hues of purple and pink giving way to a rich navy, minuscule white lights peeking in one by one. “Us Vocaloids have to look out for each other, you know? Sometimes, things don't go the way we want them to...but as long as we can still lean on each other, it'll be okay in the end. That's how it's been for me all this time, anyway.”

Piko nodded gently, mulling over his advice with downcast eyes. "You're right. Um...Kaito-san...?"

"Hm?"

"How did you..." Piko stopped himself halfway, then shook his head. "N-never mind. Maybe I shouldn't ask that."

Kaito gave a small smile, already having an idea of what Piko wanted to say. "It's okay. I don't mind."

"...You don't have to answer if you don't want to," Piko began, "but...how did you did you deal with...failure?"

Kaito chuckled, nearly embarrassed, and Piko was taken aback at how he was able to laugh at himself so easily. "You know...it was so early in the game that I almost just gave up," he admitted. "But Mei-chan and Miku and all our English-speaking friends at the time convinced me not to. They told me things would get better eventually, that it wouldn't stay that way forever, and I believed them."

"And it got you somewhere," Piko mumbled. "Wish I could think like that."

Kaito's brows furrowed in worry as a frown crossed his lips. "Piko-kun..."

The two found their exchange at a standstill, but their silence was drowned out by the strings of conversation between people coming in and out of the station, along with the sounds of cars and taxis rumbling across the road. The boy sat quietly, knowing that he'd brought them to a brick wall, and suddenly felt a vague sense of guilt for it. Kaito didn't have any bad intentions, and he had known that he was a benevolent person since the day they met all those years back. He was trying his best to help, even to the point of being totally open to talking about a painful part of his past, and Piko didn't know why it felt like he was trying to push that aid away when he knew he needed it the most. Just because he was in a negative headspace didn't mean he was allowed to be a jerk about it. A quick apology formed in his head, but something else escaped his lips instead.

"Do you think AHS is going to try to take me in?"

The blue-haired man hummed in thought at the sudden sentiment. “Maybe. You wouldn't be separated from Miki-san anymore, and you'd probably fit right in with them. But, of course...that's their decision to make.” Blue eyes glanced up to try to meet Piko's cyan and green, but the boy's gaze was fixed on the sidewalk in front of him. “What do you want to do? Do you want to wait and see if they try it, or do you think you'll be okay with the others for now?”

“I...” Piko nodded, a slight look of determination crossing his face as he made his final decision. “I want to try to start over and meet your friends. It's going to be hard, but...I want to give myself a chance to improve, since I never got that chance the same way everyone else did. And if I end up not getting taken in by AHS, then at least I'll still feel like I belong somewhere.”

He looked up at the sudden sound of Kaito’s friendly laugh, and saw his familiar grin. "Wow, Piko-kun! You sounded really cool just now."

Piko felt his face heat up at the unexpected compliment, and his voice squeaked. " _C-cool...?_ "

Kaito blinked, confused. "Hm? Is that bad?"

“No!” Piko blurted out, waving his hands in panic as he went down a stuttering spiral. “It's...uh, I-I meant to say...th-thank you.”

“You're welcome,” Kaito chuckled. “It's getting late, though. Maybe we should take a train to the AHS building for now so we can explain the situation to them. We can at least start there.”

"Ah...a-are you sure?" Piko asked as he watched Kaito stand up again, suddenly conscious of what he’d just heard. "What if they already know what happened?"

"Then that'll help us figure out what to do next." Kaito lowered himself and extended a kind hand toward Piko, a gentle smile on his lips. "Don’t worry so much about it. I'm sure they’ll understand."

Piko hesitated, then made up his mind and nodded, making a noise of affirmation as he took Kaito's hand and let himself be pulled up from his spot. Kaito let go, and the two made their way into the train station. There was a clear sense of growing hope in the boy's heterochromatic eyes as the lights of the station ceiling enveloped them, and Kaito knew he would soon be in good hands from now on.

Things were going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> *piko's initial location is based on where the sony music building is in japan  
> *piko was released near rin/len append, which was why he didn't sell as well as he potentially could have in that first year  
> *no i don't think ahs is actually planning on doing anything w piko :(
> 
> my hc for this (since i have 2 main non-human "canons") is that when vocaloids get discontinued, they leave the company that created them and make a life for themselves (but they still occasionally get producers asking for them for songs, so singing isn't completely behind them)


End file.
